Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Former 'victim' says prosecutors can't call him assailant now
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
John Maupin says prosecutors were more than happy to portray him as a victim in a criminal case two years ago. But now, he says, they're using the same case to make him out to be the bad guy.
In a motion filed Tuesday in juvenile court, Mr. Maupin argues that the assault charges against him should be dismissed because prosecutors are unfairly twisting the evidence in his case.
The case began in 1997 when Mr. Maupin, then 17, and two other teen-agers got into a fistfight outside Mr. Maupin's home.
His attorney, Kenneth Lawson, said Mr. Maupin ex changed words with the other teens and then drove home. He said the other teens pursued his client and confronted him on his property.
In the ensuing fight, he said, Mr. Maupin punched one of the teens, who fell and hit his head on the pavement.
Mr. Maupin's motion claims police indicated he would not be charged because he acted in self-defense.
But after pursuing menacing charges against the others, Mr. Lawson said, prosecutors filed assault charges against his client.
He argues that prosecutors conceded Mr. Maupin acted in self-defense because that is the only way they could prove the menacing charges against the others.
The motion also includes a sworn statement from a former assistant prosecutor, Joni Statzer, who claims it was a conflict of interest for prosecutors to pursue charges against Mr. Maupin while portraying him as a victim in the other case.
“The prosecutor's office ... participated in what I believe to be the malicious pros ecution of (Mr. Maupin),” Ms. Statzer stated.
Prosecutor Mike Allen said there is nothing to prevent his office from prosecuting both sides of a fight.
Mr. Maupin was found guilty of assault last year but an appeals court overturned the conviction. The case now is pending again in juvenile court.
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